All lamps on the market today have a base which is firmly connected to the lamp vessel and other parts of the lamp for the purpose of mechanically and electrically connecting it to the luminaire fittings. In this case, the precise design of this base is insignificant. It may be, for example, a plug-in base, a screw-in base or a bayonet-type base.
However, there are lamps which have integrated sensors for detecting particular events which when they occur can lead to changes in the operation of the lamp.
For example, there are lamps which detect the ambient brightness by means of light-sensitive sensors and thus, as a function of this ambient light, automatically switch themselves on and off.
Also conceivable are lamps in which sensors for detecting movements can be provided. Such lamps switch themselves on automatically when objects (people, animals, movable items) move in a defined detection area.
However, in the case of lamps having integrated sensors there is the problem that, on the one hand, the geometrical alignment of the sensors is determined by a desired spatial detection range, and, on the other hand, the rigid electrical and mechanical connection of the sensors to the base means that it is not possible to align the sensors in any desired manner.
Existing lamps having sensors solve the above-described problem by, for example, two or more sensors acting in parallel being incorporated on the lamp in an intermediate part between the lamp vessel and the base such that they are distributed over the circumference of the lamp, and these sensors extend the possible detection area surrounding the lamp.
Disadvantages of this are that the component costs of the lamp are disproportionately high owing to the relatively expensive sensors and that steps have to be taken in terms of circuitry to evaluate two or more sensors in parallel (for example averaging).
In the case of active sensors for detecting movement, a considerably increased transmission power must also be provided owing to the possibility, brought about by the rigid connection between the lamp and the luminaire, that the detection area does not correspond to the desired area.
One object of the invention is therefore to provide a lamp design which avoids the abovementioned disadvantages.